DOS to Send V Visa Letters
Printed By: Karin M King 03/13/2001 08:57:53 AM
Cable Text:
UNCLASSIFIED
TELEGRAM
March 12, 2001
To: ALL DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR POSTS - ROUTINE
Origin: VO
From: SECSTATE WASHDC (STATE 44273 - ROUTINE)
TAGS: CVIS, CMGT
Captions: VISAS
Subject: V Visa Processing Mass-Mailing
Ref: State 17318
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1. The National Visa Center is about to begin mailing letters to approximately 300,000 potential applicants for "V'' visas, based on petition records available at NVC. (The Department estimates that Ciudad Juarez will process 66-percent of these applications.) NVC is mailing the letters merely as a courtesy. Since having a letter from NVC is not a legal prerequisite for qualifying for a "V'' visa, posts should not insist on seeing one to establish the bona fide nature of a case. Nevertheless, since these letters include a form that we are directing the applicants to send to the processing posts in order to establish eligility and for appointment scheduling, VO wishes to alert posts to this mailing. We repeat the text of the letter below.
Begin Text of Letter
Dear Applicant:
According to our records, you have a visa petition on file as the spouse or child of a Legal Permanent Resident. Though the priority date for your petition has not been reached, the LIFE Immigration Family Equity Act created a new class of nonimmigrant visa that allows people in circumstances like yours to live and work legally in the United States while waiting for a visa number to become available.
You may have heard of this new nonimmigrant visa, called the "V'' visa. The purpose of this letter is to inform you how you may apply for this visa. We have placed general information on the "V'' visa on our website at HTTP://TRAVEL.STATE.GOV/V-VISA.HTML. If you are in the United States, you may apply to change your current status (regardless of what that status might be) to the "V'" visa status by contacting the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. You should see their website: WWW.IMMIGRATION.GOV. If you are outside the United States, you must apply at selected U.S. embassies or consulates.
This letter and the enclosed worksheet are provided as a courtesy and not as an invitation to a specific interview. If you have already received an interview date for your immigrant visa, you will be processed as an immigrant and not receive a V visa. To begin the process at a consular section overseas, you must complete the "V'" visa application worksheet (OF-156V). We have included one with this mailing, but it too can be completed and downloaded from our website: HTTP://TRAVEL.STATE.GOV/V- VISA.HTML. Once complete, send the worksheet to the consular section at the embassy or consulate where your immigrant visa was to be processed. Records show that your visa file has been assigned to the post below.
Name of post
Address
When consular personnel receive your information, they will send you further instructions concerning required documentation such as family records, a medical exam, and financial evidence. Many overseas posts have a website
that describes their particular procedures. To find out if the post handling your case has its own website, go to HTTP://TRAVEL.STATE.GOV and click on the link that says, "U.S. Embassy and Consulate Websites Worldwide." When communicating with the consular office by telephone, letter, or e-mail, you must give your full name and case number as they appear below:
Applicant's name
Applicant's case number
INS receipt number
End Text of Letter
2. OMB has just approved the form that will accompany the letters, and NVC plans to begin mailing letters and forms on March 15. Posts can naturally expect to start getting inquiries shortly thereafter. Posts should develop an abbreviated Packet-3 that will inform applicants of post- specific application procedures. Reftel explains the documentary requirements for receiving a V visa (similar to those required for a fiance visa), including results of a medical exam from a panel physician, police records, appropriate civil documents, and evidence of financial support, not/not including the I-864. The Department expects posts to schedule the first V visa appointments in April. The NIV software will permit the issuance of a V visa as of April 1.
3. Further directions regarding "V"' visa processing, including discussion of particular adjudication issues and Best Practices, will follow by SEPTEL.
POWELL